diaspora - Haiti Observer Blog

Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) and Haitian Hometown Association Resource Group (HHTARG) are presenting a forum, "Investing in Haitian Progress", at a total of nine cities in America, Canada, the Dominican Republic, and New York City, its first stop. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding the project, offering small and medium enterprise (SME) businesses matching grants from $50,000 to $200,000 for innovative business plans. The goal is to support development of SMEs to increase employment in Haiti.

Speakers at the forum will talk about private investment in Haiti, potential stakeholders, finance, program administrators, and investment bodies like Inter-American Bank that partner with the government of Haiti to support SMEs.

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Most of the recent developmental agendas relating to Haiti pointed out to one common aspect - tourism. Haiti is blessed with Ile a Vache island located off Les Cayes' southeast coat. Spanning over an area of 52 sq. km. this island, as mentioned by Tourism Ministry, is the final frontier of true Caribbean treasure. The Ministry of Tourism is aiming towards developing a sustainable tourism industry in Ile a Vache that will help to improve the standard of living for the locals and at the same time, open doors for cross-border tourism.

The aim of the Ministry of Tourism is to create a low-density development focusing on eco-tourism while highlighting areas like history, agro-tourism and cultural heritage that will cover 20 beaches that are mostly deserted. The plan also includes solar-powered electricity-run vehicles instead of regular cars. The Ministry plans on attracting investors from countries like wider Caribbean, China, Qatar and Dominican Republic.

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Haiti is today standing at the crossroads. One path leads to complete humiliation and dependence on foreign countries and the other is of economic independence and sustainable growth. Several factors will together determine the fate of Haiti in the long run. Let us take a quick look at the aspects that can lead to development of Haitian economy.

• Haiti requires entrepreneurial revolution and for that the first step will be to build roads, improve electrical grids and develop other national infrastructure. Simultaneously, Haitians should be trained to maintain these new developments. Once the infrastructure is developed, the path for private investment opens up. This basic framework development is possible only with foreign aid. Haitian government on the other hand has to work closely with foreign investors and accept strict foreign vigilance at initial stages and prove that it is capable of managing FDI with minimum impact of corruption. The strict vigilance will gradually decrease and the government will have more flexibility to manage FDI that suits Haiti's needs.

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The Haitian-American Patrick Gaspard is the most likely pick as a US ambassador to South Africa. Patrick is currently the executive director to the Democratic National Committee.

Gaspard is known to be a famous player in the politics of New York City and has formerly worked as Obama's White House political director. In his political career he worked for David Dinkins' in his Mayor campaigns.

In other responsibilities Gaspard served in the Service Employees International Union. He in 1980's and 90's participated actively to topple the apartheid regime in South Africa. He also, while working in the White House, played a major role in efforts to give relief to Haiti after the major earthquake destruction in 2010.

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After so many speculations. After so many names mentioned to be on the list of termination in the Government of Laurent Lamothe, the decision has been made. After being in power for just over a year and a half. The Martelly presidency obviously has not been working to the satisfaction of the president.

As a result, some heads have to roll!

Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe gave the news about the reshuffling of his ministerial Cabinet via Twitter. The new members of his cabinet include:

Bernice Fidelia who replaces Daniel Supplice as minister for Haitians Living Abroad. She recently occupied the position of liaison with the Haitian diaspora.

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Like any other languages, Haitian Creole is not something that you can teach or translate easily. It would take a professional to translate such language efficiently. Just because it is derived from the French language does not necessarily mean that a French person can successfully translate it. Keep in mind that Haitian Creole and French have a lot of differences. Though Haitian Creole draws a huge influence from the French language, it also has touches of Native American, West African, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic languages. With this, the only one who can accurately translate it is a professional Haitian Creole translator.

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PromoCapital, established in 2004, became Haiti's pioneer investment bank, the ancillary arm of PromoBank. PromoCapital set up its headquarters in Pétionville and opened affiliate offices in Washington, D.C., Aventura, Florida, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The investment bank began with 70 partners in a joint-venture effort born of an agreement signed by the Haitian-American Diaspora, Haitian small- and mid-size businesses, and investment capitalists. The Haitian and U.S. shareholders would share the equity between them equally.

PromoCapital is sub-divided into two financial entities, PromoCapital, S.A., set up as Société Fiancière de Dévelopment, in Haiti, and PromoCapital USA, Inc., a general partnership corporation licensed to operate in Delaware State. PromoCapital appointed two directors to represent its financial entities: Chairman Henri Deschamps of PromoCapital Haiti, and Dumarsais M. Siméus, Chairman of PromoCapital USA.

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Considered the father of Miami Little Haiti area, Viter Juste, AKA Pere Juste is widely known for establish the name "Little Haiti. Viter Juste was a visionary and a pioneer. Many people would tell you that this man deserves much of the credit for helping South Florida's Haitian community become the thriving group it is today.

Viter Juste wanted Haitians in South Florida to build a vibrant community. According to family, Juste wrote an article to The Miami Herald and named it 'Little Port-au-Prince.' However, the Miami Herald edited the title, calling it instead 'Little Haiti.

Over the past several decades, Viter Juste was very happy to see watch the positive transition of the Haitian community in Miami, moving from Haitian immigrant boat people to become a force politically and economically in South Florida

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This is the day we all have been waiting for. This is election day in the United states and according to every single election poll results, the race is extremely close. We have a 50 percent chance that the next president of the United States could be either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.

So the question is what is the implication for Haitians and Haiti if the next president of the US is Mitt Romney Vs Barack Obama?

Haitians all over the US overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic candidate Barack Obama. Will we be better off if Obama wins?

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Haiti's history has seen more or less constant upheaval from 1804, up to the recent past. Survivor of 32 coup d'etats, provisional governments, and natural disasters, the most recent set-back was the 2010 earthquake. Port-au-Prince, still a mass of rubble, has 350,000 Haitians living in tent cities today.

The Government of Haiti (GOH) is working non-stop to attract foreign investment and get its economy restored. Many development banks, non-government organizations, and investment initiatives are funding projects to rebuild Haiti. One of the richest investment resources is the Haitian Diaspora. Made up of law, education, medical, science, and information technology fields, it is a bounty of resources Haiti needs to fully recover from its destruction.

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